Footy - General Rules

Footy is not for the faint-at-heart. The field is huge – a relatively circular field, more than 150 meters, very conservatively, in diameter (1 meter = 1.09 yards). While it is a circle, there are two ends to it. In the middle 30 meters or so, there are four evenly spaced poles. Semi-circles mark out the distance of 50 yards away from this series of poles. Points are scored by kicking the ball through the center two poles, for 6 points, or alternatively, through the outside poles for 1 point.

Game play works generally like this. There is a jump ball to start play (and jump ball consists of a referee bouncing the somewhat football-shaped ball high into the air). Once someone holds the ball, he is subject to being tackled – and keep in mind, there are no pads in Footy. You can run with the ball between 10 and 15 meters, at which point you have to bounce the ball if you want to continue running. Otherwise, you always have the option to pass the ball, using one of two methods. First, you can do a hand pass, which is similar to an underhand serve in volleyball. You have to punch the ball, not throw it. Second, you can punt the ball to someone else. One interesting twist is that if you catch the ball when someone kicks it to you, no one can touch you until you make the next pass (though you can’t run with the ball if you opt to take advantage of this rule). For out of bounds, unless you intentionally knocked the ball out, a referee will face the outside and throw the ball high into the air and toward the center of the field. When a single point is scored (kicked between the outer poles), the ball is turned over to the opposing team at that end of the field and play continues. When six points are scored, the ball is returned to center.